The National Immigration Forum has provided this explainer for the new $100,000 fee for new applications for H1B visas. In general, the fee applies to applicants living outside of the US and does not apply to re-newals. This explainer provides clarification on Project Firewall from the U.S. Department of Labor which is meant to protect high-skilled American workers.
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National Immigration Forum provides this explainer for the H-!B proposed rule which replaces the lottery system with the weighted selection lottery. This would give a higher weight (and probability of selection) to jobs that pay more.
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One of the unintended consequences of reducing the international student populations in the U.S. is the lack of funding for university STEM research and classroom teaching which is described in this article “A flood of Chinese graduate students in STEM was a boon to U.S. students“
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FACT SHEET: Trump’s Mass Deportation Agenda Is Dangerous – And Americans Know It
Trump’s mass deportation agenda is failing America.
The administration’s city-by-city, community-by-community crusade is traumatizing children, separating families, and endangering the rights and safety of all Americans.
- Federal law enforcement agents are being diverted from drug trafficking, cybersecurity, and violent crime investigations to chase down longtime residents with clean records.
- U.S. citizens are being detainedoutside their place of work, teenagers tackled to the ground, U.S. citizen children forced to be abandoned, and legal residents fined – all despite showing valid ID.
- The parents of a U.S. Marine were detained while visiting their pregnant daughter on a military base. The father has been deported. The mother remains in custody indefinitely. Both had pending green card applications.
- Meanwhile, immigrant communities are avoiding hospitals, schools, and workplaces out of fear. These are our neighbors who work across every sector of our economy, from healthcare and education to technology, agriculture, construction, and small business. When people are forced into the shadows, entire communities suffer.
- Denver Public Schools is down 1,200 students and $18.5 million in funding.
- Pregnant women are skipping prenatal care, risking dangerous complications.
- Businesses across the country are facing urgent labor shortages as the crackdown removes workers from industries already struggling to recruit and retain employees.
- Young adults and teenagers are being forced to become breadwinners when parents are detained or deported, leaving children to raise children.
- The result? All Americans are less safe.
Most Americans oppose Trump’s mass deportation agenda:
People understand that real public safety means smart, targeted enforcement – not indiscriminate raids that tear families apart. Americans want balanced solutions that secure the border while providing legal pathways for those who contribute to our communities.
- Americans say ICE has gone too far: 51% of Americans believe ICE has “gone too far” in its enforcement activities.
- Americans prefer legal pathways over deportation: 64% of voters say undocumented immigrants should have a way to stay in the country legally if certain requirements are met.
- ICE favorability has collapsed: ICE favorability dropped from 50% in February to just 39% by June. Now 52% view the agency unfavorably – with nearly 40% viewing it “very unfavorably.”
- An August Pew survey found ICE ranked alongside the IRS as one of the least-trusted federal agencies.
Even unlikely voices are speaking out against mass deportation:
- Texas Republican Mayor Javier Villalobos: Expressed concerns over “deporting people who can be productive for our country, who produce for our economy, produce for our families, and our business owners.”
- Podcast Host Joe Rogan: “The way it looks is horrific… When you’re just arresting people in front of their kids, and just, normal, regular people who have been here for 20 years. That everybody who has a heart can’t get along with that.”
- Former St. Louis Police Lt. Ray Rice: “The most visceral response I had was seeing young children being treated that way and the terror on their faces. You can’t see that happen and not have a question about the humanity or the lack of humanity afforded those who were targeted like that.”
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The Washington Post’s Lauren Kaori Gurley reported that “the Trump administration said that its immigration crackdown is hurting farmers and risking higher food prices for Americans by cutting off agriculture’s labor supply.”
Concerns: Immigration crackdowns are creating instability in the agricultural workforce which threatens (1) the stability of domestic food production and (2) prices for US consumers
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This article, by the Vera Institute of Justice, shares information about the expansion of federal Immigrant Detention in the US – both the number of facilities and the number of immigrants.
This includes:
- 17 facilities hold over 1000 detainees/day
- During 2025, ICE has detained people in 605 different facilities
- Local jails are holding ICE detainees
- There are currently 2 family detention centers in Texas (Dilley and Karnes) but two more are slated to be opened
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The new USCIS citizenship test recently initiated by USCIS is longer and more difficult. Recent statistics comparing denial rates during the Biden administration with those during the Trump administration show an increase in denials from 7.9% to 9.9%.
In addition to a more difficult citizenship test, there is now more scrutiny of the applicants social media accounts to ensure they are “of good moral character.”
Read the full article here
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The CATO Institute has prepared this detailed report, Why Legal Immigration is Nearly Impossible, about US immigration’s (permanent) visas and their limitations.
Immigration Insight 